DECEMBER 2022 THE RIDER /3 Can Ponies Distinguish Human Facial Expressions?


Guelph, ON, Nov 23, 2022 - Most humans are good at giving someone a wide berth if they ap- proach with a furrowed brow but how good are horses at interpret- ing our expressions? Dr. Katrina Merkies, researcher and associate professor at the University of Guelph and her team found out in a study involving 20 lesson ponies and some talented actors. There has been past re-


search conducted with flash cards, but this is the first study to document the response of equines that were shown happy, sad, angry and neutral facial expres- sions in person. “In terms of behavior gen-


erally, the right brain processes emotions and particularly nega- tive stimuli,” explains Merkies, “whereas the left brain is more re- lated to social interactions and learned behavior.” Horses see with the left eye


things on their left side and with their right eye things on the right side and unlike humans, there’s very little fusion in their optic nerves and they don’t really have a lot of binocular vision. The optic nerve brings in-


formation from the eye to the brain and crosses from the left eye to the right side of the brain and from the right eye to the left side of the brain. In horses, be- cause their eyes are located on the sides of their head with largely monocular vision, it is easy to discern what they see with their left eye is processed in the right brain and visa versa.


Diagram of Horse Vision. Photo Credit: Equine Guelph for the diagram After initial clicker training


took place with the ponies so they would be likely to approach the human actors; two actors pre- sented expressions of happiness, sadness, anger and neutrality. As hypothesized, the angry


and sad faces resulted in the ponies looking at the actors more often with their left eye first. The left eye glance corresponds with the right brain, which is in charge of processing negative stimuli. Conversely, the ponies more often looked at the joyous expres-


Camille Carier Bergeron Continued from Page 1


ninth place as of Nov. 1, 2022. Her impressive 70.457% qualifying average score was earned aboard Sound of Silence 4 or ‘SOS’ (San Amour x Limes), a 14-year-old Westphalian gelding, owned by her father Gilles Bergeron. “Winning the Orion Cup this year with Sound


of Silence is truly exciting and rewarding. I can’t thank enough Pia for her generous support towards the youth over the years with the Orion cup, but also towards me and SOS,” said Carier-Bergeron. She added on her relationship with Fortmuller about how “she has been a true mentor and has helped our relationship grow in what it is now. She believed in us in times where I was not sure myself, we could do it.” The partnership with SOS has been a strong


bond for a few years now, “I have competed with SOS in the FEI junior, FEI young rider until last year and now this year for the first time in FEI U25 Grand Prix. We came up the level together and I learned so much training him up.” She added, “I didn’t think we could make it to top 10 in the world this first year or neither win the Orion Cup. I’m so lucky to have such a partner and I’m so grateful to my team, my parents, my coach Brittany Fraser and all my therapists, friends and sponsors. It takes a village!” Carier Bergeron’s first qualifying score came


on March 18 during week 10 at the Adequan® Global Dressage Festival CDIO U25 in Wellington, FL. The duo was awarded a score of 69.641%, plus a 1% CDI bonus, to finish with a score of 70.641%. On May 21, Carier Bergeron received her next qualifying score of 68.034%, plus another CDI 1% bonus, to a score of 69.034% at the Ottawa Dres- sage Festival in Ottawa, ON. She would clinch the Orion Cup on September 3, after recording a score of 70.697%, plus a 1% CDI bonus to 71.697%, in Bromont, QC.


sion with their right eye and in- terestingly the neutral facial ex- pression came up with a 50/50 reaction! The ponies also had more


licking and chewing with neutral faces, and they focused their ears more on the actor and stood far- ther away from joyous or sad ex- pressions. Another action noted in the study included heart rate, which was not affected by any of the facial expressions presented. “I think it’s important to


note that although the horses did Pia Fortmuller, who knows Carier Bergeron


well is super excited to present the award to her and SOS. “Camille and SOS winning this award is very exciting on many levels, because I know this com- bination very well with Camille living with me in Priddis, Alberta for over a year.” Fortmuller added “SOS was a big question mark whether or not he has the motivation required for high performance and Camille was skeptical, but she trusted me to believe in herself and this turned out to be one my favourite, beautiful stories. Fortmuller believes that where Carier Berg-


eron and SOS started to where they are now, shows “it’s a true definition of having courage to take a leap of faith and dream big!” With no awards being given out last year, including the Orion Cup, she added “its important to mention that we have so many strong up and coming talents in Canada at the moment, for example, Camille was the highest- ranking FEI U25 rider with her other horse Acoeur.” Fortmuller concluded “biggest congratu- lations to both Camille and SOS for this huge achievement.” Orion (Jazz x Consul), a 1996 Dutch Warm-


blood gelding, was an Olympic Team horse for Canada and was trained to the advanced level by Fortmuller’s former coach, Leslie Reid, who rode Orion at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In 2009, Fortmuller took over the ride on this incred- ibly talented horse. The pair would go on to com- pete at the Grand Prix level, culminating with their selection as the reserve combination for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Sadly, Orion died at the start of 2014. His passing was a devastating loss to Fort- muller and her family, as well as the Canadian Dressage Team. The Orion Cup pays tribute to this very spe-


cial horse. Just as Orion was instrumental to the start of Fortmuller’s Grand Prix career, this award provides other talented Canadian dressage athletes with a leg-up in the sport. For more information about dressage, visit


www.equestrian.ca/sport/dressage.


Photo: “A Cowboy Christmas Eve” by Jack Sorenson - www.jacksorensonrt.com We will be closed until May 1st


but can be reached at (613) 725-7140


respond to the different facial expressions and they clearly dis- tinguish between them that does- n’t necessarily mean that they understand what we’re feeling or that they feel what we feel,” says Merkies. “They may respond more to an angry face but that doesn’t mean that they feel your anger and that there are other things taken into consideration like the way that you move your body and what else is happening in the environment.” Merkies sums up, “Many


different cues factor into how a horse will respond in any mo- ment, but understanding our fa- cial expression is important to social interactions. It’s interest- ing that facial expressions are highly conserved across species, so even though we can have very different physiognomy (we look very different), for example mouse compared to a horse, compared to a human, but facial expressions are fairly similar which is very interesting and very helpful because if you can understand the facial expression from another being or another species, then you can know how to respond appropriately.” To visit the research paper,


University of Guelph Researcher Dr. Katrina Merkies explains how ponies recognize our expressions.


You Tube Video of interview: https://youtu.be/C9pRNsX6e1k


Distinguish Human Facial Ex- pressions? published Sept. 7, 2022. Follow this


https://www.mdpi.com/2076- 2615/12/18/2331


Interesting in learning


more about equine behaviour and how horses communicate? Look for Equine Guelph’s


short courses for youth and adults on Horse Behaviour and Safety at TheHorsePortal.ca and more in-depth 12-week courses on Equine Behaviour and Ad- vanced Equine Behaviour.


Can Ponies (Equus Caballus) owners’ and care givers’ Centre


About Equine Guelph: Equine Guelph is the horse


link:


at the University of Guelph in Canada. It is a unique partner- ship dedicated to the health and well-being of horses, supported and overseen by equine industry groups. Equine Guelph is the epicentre for academia, industry and government - for the good of the equine industry as a whole. For further information, visit www.equineguelph.ca.


Story by: Jackie Bellamy-Zions, Equine Guelph


Web Link(s): Story web link: https://thehorse- portal.ca/2022/10/can-ponies- distinguish-human-facial-expres sions/


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